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Exploring the structure of psychopathological symptoms: a re-analysis of AMDP data by robust nonmetric multidimensional scaling

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Abstract

This paper investigates the structure of psychopathological symptoms. Based on AMDP symptom profiles, a symptom space was calculated by robust nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and the symptom structures of a sample dating from 1980 and a sample from 2002/2003 were compared. The method of NMDS presented in this study allows results from other studies to be confirmed and complemented. The symptom factors identified in the past by factor-analytic studies were replicated as clusters in two-dimensional symptom maps. Additionally, some theoretically assumed clusters of symptoms were detected that were not found in previous factor analysis approaches. From the results, which are depicted in a continuous space, new insights can be gained, especially with regard to questions of categorical and dimensional classifications. The comparison of the structural aspects of the symptomatology across more than two decades resulted in only small divergences and allows conclusions to be drawn about the stability of these structures and consequently of the symptom clusters and dimensions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (fellowship, project no. 117011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Applied Cognitive Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/28, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland

    Damian Läge & Samy Egli

  2. Psychiatric Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Nussbaumstrasse 7, 80366, Munich, Germany

    Michael Riedel & Hans-Jürgen Möller

Authors
  1. Damian Läge
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  2. Samy Egli
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  3. Michael Riedel
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  4. Hans-Jürgen Möller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Damian Läge.

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Läge, D., Egli, S., Riedel, M. et al. Exploring the structure of psychopathological symptoms: a re-analysis of AMDP data by robust nonmetric multidimensional scaling. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 262, 227–238 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-011-0271-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-011-0271-x

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